Pat Hughes, the radio voice of the Chicago Cubs on 670 The Score, is set to be honored with the Ford C. Frick Award on July 23 from the grounds of the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown, N.Y. Hughes will join baseball immortality as a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, and he continues to demonstrate why he is more than worthy of receiving the immense accolade.
Contrasting Hughes with Michael Kay during their midday program, Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes showered praise onto Hughes’ approach as a broadcaster. Exiting a commercial break, the show played a clip of Kay mispronouncing Chicago Cubs pitcher Adbert Alzolay’s name and stated that Kay did not care that he got the name wrong.
On the other hand, Hughes meticulously ensures he pronounces every player’s name correctly, something that was evinced during the team’s recent series against the New York Yankees.
“Kyle Higashioka is on deck,” Hughes said, referring to the Yankees catcher. “I’ve been rehearsing that name; I wasn’t pleased with the way I attempted to say his name the first time or two on Friday night, [and I am] determined to make that not happen again.”
Upon the admission and ostensible display of humility, Bernstein was satisfied with the expectations he places onto himself as a play-by-play announcer.
“He’s that conscientious that he just wasn’t pleased with him getting it correctly enough,” Bernstein explained.
Holmes remarked earlier in the segment that when he works as a play-by-play announcer, he feels he has a distinctly different style than Hughes. Yet he is able to appreciate the nuance of the craft and the way in which Hughes has been able to engender a four-decade long broadcasting career.
“I just really like him,” Holmes expressed, “and I think that he does the job in a way that if you’re a young broadcaster that wants to learn how to do it, there’s a lot that can be learned [by] listening to a broadcast – including when Pat feels like he has not done a player justice.”
Holmes overheard employees at 670 The Score making travel arrangements to be on hand for the highly anticipated moment of Hughes’ induction. Previous winners of the Ford C. Frick Award include Al Michaels, Ken Harrelson, Jack Graney and Bob Costas, which honors a broadcaster who has made “major contributions to baseball.”
